The History of Lynnhaven Parish, Virginia 

Old Donation’s congregation has worshiped in three buildings, four if you count the Thoroughgood home in 1636 where the first meeting was held. Today, the only building that remains is the current church on Witchduck Road in Virginia Beach.

 

Adam Thoroughgood commissioned “Church One” in 1637. It was a brick structure set on the west bank of the Western Branch of the Lynnhaven River. If you wind your way through the quiet Virginia Beach community, aptly named Church Point, you’ll arrive at a grassy field overlooking the Lynnhaven River. There, marking the spot near where the church once stood, is a handsome brick memorial. [Note: The terms "Church One," "Church Two," and "Church Three" were never used in historical doculents to describe the churches. They're used today to distinguish the different buildings.]

 

Unfortunately, the exact site of the church, with its bricks and graveyard rubble, is now completely under water. The church stood on dry land serving the congregation for 53 years. “Repeated references to this first church in court orders and wills of Lower Norfolk County, from 1637 to 1687, are evidence of its continued use for at least half a century. The old church's increasing age, however, made frequent repairs necessary, until, on the 28th March, 1691, the year in which Princess Anne County was created, the vestry ordered its replacement by a new building.” No church records exist for this period, but the decision to leave Church One was documented in the Princess Anne County Order Book on April 1, 1691. It was recorded on September 9, 1698.

 

So why is Church One now underwater? Accounts vary, but most agree that the flooding was linked to the creation of the Lynnhaven Inlet, the short waterway connecting the Lynnhaven River to the Chesapeake Bay. In 1853 Norfolk historian William Forrest wrote that until the time of the Revolution the only way to get from the Lynnhaven River to the Chesapeake Bay was by Pleasure House Creek, a long and inconvenient trip for local fishermen. To fix the situation the “Lynnhaven Inlet” was cut like a ditch through the narrow piece of land separating the Lynnhaven River and the Chesapeake Bay. Other sources attribute the inlet to Adam Keeling directing the ditch be cut in 1667. The new inlet allowed the river to rise and eventually flood its banks. The erosion and damage was surely hastened by the devastating hurricane of 1667. Left behind, Church One and its cemetery were gradually overtaken by the river.

 

The graves may have been left behind when the congregation moved but they were not forgotten. Sarah Thoroughgood’s tombstone inscription was visible in 1819 and was published in a Richmond newspaper: “Here lieth ye body of Capt. John Gooking & also ye body of Mrs. Sara Yeardley who was wife to Captain Adam Thorowgood first, Capt. John Gooking & Colonel Francis Yeardley, who deceased August 1657.” As late as 1850 the ruins, some brick remnants, could be seen extending out of the river, but no more. Church and graveyard relics probably still exist at the bottom of the Lynnhaven River, but serious attempts to retrieve them have not been made.